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Well wouldn't that be nice. Sorry to be a party pooper again, but I'm quite skeptical Valve is actually spending time porting their DirectX based games to Linux. Valve has always produced Linux servers for connecting said Windows games. I'm guessing that this job posting (especially given the emphasis on networking) is a continuation of producing those very same Linux gaming servers and services and NOT in actually porting the games themselves.

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Thats it right there, does this mean we're going to get Half Life 2? I don't know, I have a steam account with all of the half life 1 based games along with the Half Life 2 silver package and if they started porting these that'd be cool.

I think if they port anything first it may be the Half Life 1 based stuff, since that runs opengl already and would be the easiest, however, i'm pretty sure the Source engine is capable of rendering in opengl right now.

That'd be funny though if they ported the Half-Life 1 based games first, how many years ago did we want this? But I guess now with the Steam platform and all the games ported to that, now they can port Steam and all the games to Linux.

Does this mean they'll actually do it? Maybe, maybe things are coming together for Linux Gaming. All I know is if Valve gives out Linux versions of their games, that is going to be a HUGE boost to Linux Gaming.

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According to an online survey by Valve Software, only one in fifty players who access download service Steam has a DirectX 10-compatible graphics card and Windows Vista installed. In an interview with heise online, Gabe Newell, president of Valve Software, said that Microsoft made a terrible mistake releasing DirectX 10 for Vista only and excluding Windows XP. He said this decision affected the whole industry as so far only a very small percentage of players can use DirectX 10.

When developing cross-platform games which are also released fo Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, developers look for the smallest common denominator. And since neither Microsoft's nor Sony's new consoles support Shader Model 4.0 for DirectX 10, only few games use it, he said.

In addition, Newell bemoaned the increasing lack of input device diversity in PC gaming culture. He would like to see controllers like the Wiimote or the Guitar Hero guitar, but since DirectX support for devices like these had increasingly been reduced over the last few years, developers didn't dare implement these expensive innovations.

The Half-Life 2 Orange Box, which will be released for PC and Xbox 360 on 12. October, uses DirectX 10 functionality only for accelerating some mimics. Visually, however, it was virtually impossible to differentiate between the versions. The PS3 edition is being developed by an EA studio and is scheduled for release two to three weeks later.

The game will already be available from download service Steam on 10. October. Newell said the later release date for the retail editions was requested by the retailers. Retailers also didn't want different versions, resulting in the release of a complete package containing Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress. Even before the release date, Valve will announce additional bundles for Steam so that existing Half-Life 2 users don't have to buy a second copy of the game.

The source engine was expanded for Episode 2. A special alpha blend mode generates smoother anti-aliasing edges. In addition, the demo version exhibits new distortion effects and soft shadows. The Orange Box console versions will also apply the new engine features, including high dynamic range rendering and multi core support, to the main game. The PC main game was not revised. Half-Life 2 runs at a resolution of 720p (1280 x 720 pixels) on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

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Carmack himself said, Linux wasn't that important to him anymore. According to a german IT-site he was one of the major driving forces in porting to Linux. But that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

It was at one point in time- but then, MacOS "isn't that important to him" either and you don't have them saying that they've given up on them, now do you? As you put it, it doesn't mean much of anything either way.

In all honesty, if he's targeting MacOS, there's no reason to NOT make a Linux version. Really. And even if he doesn't 'produce' it, all you need do is ensure someone has enough pull to license a version all the same- there's little reason for him to deliberately NOT do a Linux version at all ever and forever more on this one. He's targeting Macs and PS3 for it- that translates into Linux support anyhow, even if he doesn't do it in passing like he did in the past.

In the end, we do ourselves in if we keep going on about them when they're still in the early stages of everything. I'm actually much more keen on discussing the prospects of something from Valve, trying to second guess what they're up to- it would honestly be a cold day in Hell if Valve or Blizzard did anything for Linux in the near to medium future, and would be welcome if it did get that cold.... I wouldn't mind buying HL2 to play if they did make a Linux version for it...

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This possibly, and let me emphasize on that, possibly, has meaning behind what we're seeing.

Yeah... DX10's biting just about all the players out there and while it brings promise, it's nowhere else on any other platforms; just Vista. Now OpenGL 2.x and soon 3.x, on the other hand and OpenGL ES 2.X as well- different story altogether.

Vista's burned just about everyone in the Windows world, to be honest. It's been expensive for all the players, AMD included, to get to there and there's just not been any of the takers that there used to be on something like it. XP did better by far, as did 98. In the end, it's not coming together and they don't like what happened.

It was at one point in time- but then, MacOS "isn't that important to him" either and you don't have them saying that they've given up on them, now do you? As you put it, it doesn't mean much of anything either way.

In all honesty, if he's targeting MacOS, there's no reason to NOT make a Linux version. Really. And even if he doesn't 'produce' it, all you need do is ensure someone has enough pull to license a version all the same- there's little reason for him to deliberately NOT do a Linux version at all ever and forever more on this one. He's targeting Macs and PS3 for it- that translates into Linux support anyhow, even if he doesn't do it in passing like he did in the past.

In the end, we do ourselves in if we keep going on about them when they're still in the early stages of everything. I'm actually much more keen on discussing the prospects of something from Valve, trying to second guess what they're up to- it would honestly be a cold day in Hell if Valve or Blizzard did anything for Linux in the near to medium future, and would be welcome if it did get that cold.... I wouldn't mind buying HL2 to play if they did make a Linux version for it...

You know, I still question that rumor of John Carmack not supporting Linux. We know hes going to always open source the engines, and with the history of ID, I just can't see this not being on Linux.

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Yeah... DX10's biting just about all the players out there and while it brings promise, it's nowhere else on any other platforms; just Vista. Now OpenGL 2.x and soon 3.x, on the other hand and OpenGL ES 2.X as well- different story altogether.

Vista's burned just about everyone in the Windows world, to be honest. It's been expensive for all the players, AMD included, to get to there and there's just not been any of the takers that there used to be on something like it. XP did better by far, as did 98. In the end, it's not coming together and they don't like what happened.

And that gives Linux a very open opportunity I think. More than ever. The business world loves Linux, and hopefully, the Gaming business will love it too.